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lonelymtn

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Hello all,

I've been brewing for almost 5 years now. This past year, I down-sized considerably from my 3-pot 20-gal each top-tier blichmann setup to the grainfather (I can now actually use dining area). Also using Brewer's Friend now instead of Beersmith and so far I am liking it. This weekend is my 4th brew on the grainfather and I am borrowing a grain mill to try and troubleshoot some efficiency problems.

My theory is that the default setting at the LHBS was fine when I had a larger surface area for mash/sparge in the 20 gallon pots, but it's not nearly fine enough for the GF. For instance, when I fly sparge, the liquor almost flies through.

Anyway, glad to be here!
 
Boil for longer? Just add hops later in boil? What's the difference MAJOR between Beersmith and Brewers friend??
I've only used Brewers friend not that I'm keen to change but you here so much about beer smith.
 
i also use beersmith , getting the equipment profile set up is a bit tricky ( yet to even try a grainfather ) .
have a look in the add ons for a GF equip profile if you haven't already
getting the grain crush right makes a difference to overall efficiency .
what sort of gap are you thinking of trying ?
my grain comes pre-milled at 1.4 mm , depending on what grain i order i do see whole kernels coming in the bag which hurts my brewhouse numbers
 
Well I don't have a grain mill. I don't have a grain father. I brew in a bag in a 50lt keg. I milled my own grains today for the first time in my thermomix so just blended em up. 70 % brew house efficiency. As for f tonight's brew I looked at the grist post mash and I saw quite a lot,of whole grains. Good luck mate
 
I ended up doing two passess on a 2-roller Barley Crusher at a gap of 0.38. My mash efficiencies were nearly spot on to what they should have been. So, that seems to have fixed that problem.

The only other issue I have run accross is boil-off rate. I erroneously had a value too large in my equipment profile, so my final volumes and OG for the given amount of grain/water were off by a few points at the end and I had to extend my boil to get to those.

I've since found some more specific values to input for the GF equipment profile and I feel my next brew session will be even closer to true.

Cheers.
 
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Yep this seems to be my issue too I used to do 90 min boils now to save time and because of brulosophers exbeerment st here seems no real need for long boils so my FG seems to be a bit lower and my volume into fermentor higher. Cheers for the heads up there lonelymtn.
I ended up doing two passess on a 2-roller Barley Crusher at a gap of 1.38mm. My mash efficiencies were nearly spot on to what they should have been. So, that seems to have fixed that problem.

The only other issue I have run accross is boil-off rate. I erroneously had a value too large in my equipment profile, so my final volumes and OG for the given amount of grain/water were off by a few points at the end and I had to extend my boil to get to those.

I've since found some more specific values to input for the GF equipment profile and I feel my next brew session will be even closer to true.

Cheers.
 
I too normally do 60 minute boils, but for this recipe (Wee Heavy, OG = 1.098) I want some more complex flavors to develop through the Malliard reaction, so that is why it was 90.

Still, in my prior sessions, I wouldn't get near my target OG at 60 minutes, so I always extened the boil. I don't attribute that to anything but incorrect values in to my equipment profile that I will continue to tweak.

Cheers!

Yep this seems to be my issue too I used to do 90 min boils now to save time and because of brulosophers exbeerment st here seems no real need for long boils so my FG seems to be a bit lower and my volume into fermentor higher. Cheers for the heads up there lonelymtn.
 
The only other issue I have run accross is boil-off rate. I erroneously had a value too large in my equipment profile, so my final volumes and OG for the given amount of grain/water were off by a few points at the end and I had to extend my boil to get to those.
wider the pot the more boil off, narrower the less boil off but im guessing you figured it out
 
wider the pot the more boil off, narrower the less boil off but im guessing you figured it out

Right. What I am fighting is all the different numbers people are throwing around for boil-off rate on the GrainFather. I've seen everything from 2 to 4 qt/hour and that is a big difference.
 
yes, the real test is on your own brews, and thats all that counts. the only way to get your numbers right is to brew and check, brew and check and adjust
 
My boil off is set at 6lt / hour at the moment last brew pre boil was 27lt into fermentor 22lt so 5lt boil off.
Hay since you use grain father the boil off should be exactly the same each brew if boil for same time because of electric heat element in brew as opposed to gas burner that may be effected by windy weather ??
 
My boil off is set at 6lt / hour at the moment last brew pre boil was 27lt into fermentor 22lt so 5lt boil off.
Hay since you use grain father the boil off should be exactly the same each brew if boil for same time because of electric heat element in brew as opposed to gas burner that may be effected by windy weather ??

Yes, it should be, but I didn't record the amount in my previous two sessions. I've got a good number and will share out my equipment profile bits once I feel like they are really dialed in.
 
Yep that's the beauty of this websites brewing profile it's pretty detailed and you can go back over previous brews and check efficiency attenuation boil volumes mash conversions its tops!
 
humility, elevation and wind is the only change, and it will be a difference
 
I ended up doing two passess on a 2-roller Barley Crusher at a gap of 0.38. My mash efficiencies were nearly spot on to what they should have been. So, that seems to have fixed that problem.

The only other issue I have run accross is boil-off rate. I erroneously had a value too large in my equipment profile, so my final volumes and OG for the given amount of grain/water were off by a few points at the end and I had to extend my boil to get to those.

I've since found some more specific values to input for the GF equipment profile and I feel my next brew session will be even closer to true.

Cheers.
hi
pls can you share your GF equipment profile settings for brewersfriend set up.
 
hi
pls can you share your GF equipment profile settings for brewersfriend set up.

I am doing a brew day this weekend and provided things go as planned, I will indeed publish my GF equipment profile.

Cheers!
 

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